The Tale of The Three Sisters
by Atomism
Summary: J.K. Rowling kept many secrets and wrote many unwritten stories, I felt the urge to tell myself (an apparently you too) what might or might not have happened. I'll try to keep it in line with the real story and drop some fun facts and OCs along the way. Bellatrix, Andromeda and Narcissa. They all became powerful in their own way, but what happened before what we know?
1. 1 Greed and Ambition

1.9.1966 / Andromeda

* * *

Narcissa had gotten brand new shoes from Diagon Alley. Their polished red leather and goblin-made, stone-decorated buckles, shone under the bright autumn sun. The platinum blonde hair of the small girl was tied up in a high ponytail with matching red silk ribbon. She was wearing a pretty white dress whose hem fluttered in the air, as the girl ran through the busy King's Cross station.

"Cissy! Narcissa! Come back now!" a tall woman dressed in dark blue dress, hissed, but it was too late. The girl had already ran towards the barrier dividing platforms nine and ten and disappeared.

A few curious muggles stared at the woman and her strange looking family, but turned away when they faced Druella's poisonous gaze.

"She'll face the consequences, don't worry." Cygnus, a proud-looking man in his early middle-ages, said. He pushed their loading cart with his other hand and quickly tapped his wife's shoulder with the other.

"Alright. I'll go first with Bella, and you two will come after us", he said.

Third grader Andromeda's face lost color for only a brief moment, but for her misfortune Bellatrix noticed it immediately.

"Meda.. You aren't scared, are you?" she grinned. She had become a woman during the summer, her thick and curly dark hair framed her famously beautiful, playful face. Andromeda, her sister's miniature version, bridled and rolled her eyes.

Cygnus gave his hand to Bellatrix and they walked through the barrier. Soon Andromeda (whose heart was beating it's way up in her throat) and Druella stood in the smoke-filled platform 9 3/4.

Narcissa ran lightly towards them, but stopped as she saw her parents' resented faces.

"You shouldn't run around like that, Narcissa Black. Do you not know how to behave?" Cygnus said, dangerously and quietly, so that the people rushing through the station wouldn't hear but the message would get through to the now fidgety little girl. She didn't answer, and Cygnus gave her a small but painful fillip to the back of her blonde head.

Somewhere a little further a whistle blew as the sign of a nearing departure. The family said goodbyes, and Druella made Bellatrix promise to write if her sisters were not behaving. Then the three girls boarded the train and left London with all of it's shops and high societies behind.

"Bellatrix seemed to exchange some glances with the Lestrange boy", Cygnus said with a hint of approval in his voice as the two were left standing on the emptying platform. Druella smirked. "It makes our.. arrangement.. a little easier, doesn't it?"

* * *

Andromeda had always been proud to be friends with the older students. In fact, she never had made actual friends with her classmates, although many of them seemed to adore her.

This year did not seem like an exception. She sat in the Hogwarts carriages together with Bellatrix and her fellow fifth graders, Cassandra Greengrass, Rodophus Lestrange and Byzantino Yaxley. Narcissa had disappeared to the flock of first graders heading to the lake.

The dusk of Hogsmeade and Hogwarts' castle's lights illuminated the lumpy road and the dark forest around them as the carriages started climbing the hill. Andromeda could smell the fading summer and something sweet in the air, probably some new flower was planted next to the castle's walls, Dumbledore liked to change them every year.

"Bella, your sister is sorted tonight, right?" Byzantino asked politely after they finished exchanging news. Behind the question could be heard another: What if? What if Narcissa would not be a Slytherin?"

Andromeda wouldn't care, as long as her little sister wouldn't be a Gryffindor. But for Bellatrix this was her everything, and Andromeda knew that.

Andromeda glanced to the other's faces and the realization crossed her mind; this was not the first time this issue had been discussed between Bellatrix's friends. Narcissa was not ambitious at all, although she was absolutely pure blood.

"Yes", Bellatrix said tensely and Byzantino shut his mouth as his cheeks turned red. For a moment it was quiet.

Then Rodolphus threw in: "Well, at least she's not a Gryffindor! I bet a galleon that little miss Black won't dare even.." The sentence was left unfinished. Bellatrix had pushed the boy playfully to his left side and the two were now wrestling so that the carriages swung side to side.

Cassandra and Andromeda grinned awkwardly.

"Get a room!" Byzantino snorted.

* * *

Stars twinkled in the bright sky of the Great Hall. All the tables were already full of babbling students. Headmaster Dumbledore measured the view from behind his half moon-shaped glasses, and for a passing moment, his grey eyes met Andromeda's auburn eyes, as she entered the hall behind her sister. Andromeda turned her head away in fear and pretended to fix her green tie.

There was something in Dumbledore's eyes that made Andromeda feel herself vulnerable, as if all of her secrets were read at the same time. Was she just imagining or had there been a hint of sadness in his look? Only the thought of it made Andromeda sick.

The end of the Slytherin table, which was nearest to the teacher's platform and the Sorting Stool, was jammed. That apparently was not okay with Bellatrix, who wanted to see her little sister's sorting at close range.

She wrapped her hand violently around Andromeda's wrist, who was already about to sit with all the others and took her with her to some seventh graders. Some of them looked slightly familiar, but Andromeda figured from Bellatrix's disdainful voice that they were not from the noblest of families.

"Could you move, please? Our sister is going to be sorted." Bellatrix asked.

"What's in it for me, Black?" a boy with untidy dark hair and malicious look in his eyes asked.

"You'll get a curse in your back, Goyle."

The boy, who Bellatrix called Goyle, lost his colour immediately and stood up, as well as the rest of his group and walked ten meters further.

"Tease", Andromeda heard the boy murmur. "I heard what you said, you half blood filth!" Bellatrix threw at his back. A few sparks of anger flew out of her wand.

"Are you asking for trouble already, Bella?" Andromeda asked with amusement and sat on the emptied seats.

"I wouldn't be nice to that twit even if my life hung about it", Bellatrix stated firmly but she had a smile on her face. "How long is it going to take before the sorting begins? I'm hungry."

At that moment Dumbledore stood up and raised his hands so that he seemed to embrace the whole hall. Everyone went silent except for a few whispering younger students. The giant doors of the Great Hall opened and over a hundred nervous first graders marched in. They were led by a young, black haired and strict-looking Transfiguration professor Minerva McGonagall.

Andromeda tried to find her sister's blonde head, but the Ravenclaws sitting in front of them blocked her view. Students started babbling again.

"Silence!" McGonagall raised her voice as she stepped on the teacher's platform. She placed the old Sorting Hat on the just as old Sorting Stool. The Hat started moving as if it had just woken up, opened it's leathery mouth and started singing:

_"Are you a true friend _

_does your heart seek for glory, _

_is brave written in your soul, _

_or do you wish to expand your _

_knowledge inventory? _

_I can find that out, _

_what your heart wants to shout, _

_so none is left with doubt." _

McGonagall gave the directions to the first graders and began to list names. Andromeda knew that Narcissa wouldn't be a Gryffindor, she was sure about it. Or at least she wanted to be sure about it. Cissy was way too girly. But in the other hand.. Andromeda shook the thought off.

"Narcissa Black", McGonagall announced. Andromeda glanced at Bellatrix, who stared strictly at where a girl smaller and more fragile than her age walked towards the stool. Narcissa was wearing her new Hogwarts robe whose sleeves she tried to use to cover up her shaking hands.

Andromeda thought she wasn't that nervous when she was sorted, although later she found out she probably should've been. She had always been a bit too confident, acting a bit more mature than her age. When she two years ago had taken those same steps she had been so sure about being a Slytherin that she had only thought would the Sorting Hat have time to touch her head..

_The Hat was placed on Andromeda's curly maroon hair. For a while, nothing happened. Andromeda rolled her eyes nervously to Bellatrix and faced her sister's concentrated face. Then the Sorting Hat started speaking, but the voice was coming inside Andromeda's head and she knew no one else would hear it. _

_"Andromeda Black, you have ambition, you have power and you have the pride of a pure blood witch. But you have an other side, you're not afraid to think for yourself and you're not afraid to stand for what you think is right, you're almost too brave. You are red on green." _

_As the Sorting Hat said "red", Andromeda panicked. She tried to concentrate all her thoughts on Slytherin, and she really hoped the Sorting Hat would understand. She simply could not be a Gryffindor, she didn't want to go to the same house with mudbloods and blood-traitors. _

_"Alright, alright. But this is, little girl, for others' best, not for yours", the Hat said and shouted for all to hear: "Slytherin!" _

_Andromeda felt relief as she had never felt before. She went to sit next to Bellatrix. _

_"What took it so long?" her sister asked persistently. "It.. it thought between Slytherin and Ravenclaw, it said I'm wise.." Andromeda said quietly and tried to avoid her sister's stare. "You? Wise?" Bellatrix laughed it off and ruffled her hair. _

The big hat fell on Narcissa's eyes. Andromeda held her breath and counted seconds. One, two, three, four.. "Slytherin!" the Sorting Hat shouted.

Slytherin's table cheered and Narcissa ran to her sisters. She seemed sour.

"What's wrong? This is truly splendid, Cissy! We're all in Slytherin!" Andromeda laughed and hugged her sister. "It said I'm greedy." Narcissa said offended as Bellatrix clenched her and sat on her place.

Relief and happiness flew through both Andromeda and Bellatrix. Better be greedy and noble than humble and mudblood, Andromeda thought.

Slytherin cheered again, as some other fair girl, probably one of the Malfoy siblings, was sorted in Slytherin.


	2. Love and Power

**A/N:  
****I've had a lot of fun for a couple of days trying to figure out exactly what made Bella, Meda and Cissy the persons we know them as. **

**The most interesting was naturally Bellatrix, a mistress of dark arts and lord Voldemort's one-sided lover. Rowling has stated "No one is truly, fully evil than lord Voldemort" or so and therefore I wanted to make Bellatrix a good person who goes trough things a young girl shouldn't and will probably end up being mentally ill (I'll get to that later).**

**Feel free to review and/or correct my possible errors, this is translated work from my original Finnish script.****Enjoy! -Atomism**

* * *

Love and Power

Bellatrix / 1968

* * *

"..And us, the ones who have the power in natural order, and from which it has been forcefully taken away, shall rule them all", Rodolphus said with his dark, soft voice. A victorious smile flickered in his face and he had a dreamy look in his eyes as if he had seen the glory ahead. "Rule them all!" Bellatrix sighed with fascinated tone in her voice.

The two, seventeen-year-olds somewhere between friends and lovers, laid on the green grass of Hogwarts and looked at the beautiful view that opened above them: the dim light of the sun that had already settled to the west, the brightest stars and the soft white lines of the moon.

Rodolphus leaned his head on his black leather school bag and let Bellatrix's head rest on his chest. Bellatrix made little circles with his long fingers to Rodolphus' shoulder and heard as his heart beat a little faster than it should have.

"If, actually when, He begins to rise to power, me and my father are going to fight for His cause", Rodolphus said. Bellatrix listened to him and the evening and didn't answer. For a moment a peaceful silence floated around them.

Rodolphus had always been her good friend and ally, but in their last year at Hogwarts she had begun to feel something a little more towards the boy.

To her, Rodolphus was something very different from what she had used to; caring, friendly and soft, in other words everything that her father wasn't.

It must be that, she thought to herself. She saw Rodolphus as someone who replaced her desire for a loving man, who took good care of her and listened to her thoughts. But Bellatrix didn't want to go to a relationship like that, she feared that eventually she would be bored and hurt him. And the last thing she wanted to do was hurt her friend.

"Galleon for your thoughts", Rodolphus said. Bellatrix had been dreaming.

"It's just.. my dad.." Bellatrix said hoarsely and looked up to Rodolphus.

Rodolphus' free hand wandered to Bellatrix's shoulder, that had a small, yellow bruise when Bellatrix had come back from the Christmas holiday. The strong man's hand fondled the spot with unimaginable tenderness. Bellatrix saw worry in his eyes.

"Rod, it's okay, it really was just an accident", Bellatrix resisted, but didn't deny his touch.

"You're so beautiful, I'd never hurt you Bella", Rodolphus said quietly, as if he was talking to himself.

The words felt like warm daggers in Bellatrix's heart, as if Rodolphus had picked just the right words that her unsure heart needed.

Rodolphus' face came closer, he brought his hand to her cheek. Lips met lips.

It wasn't Bellatix's first kiss, but for a second she felt that something, that had been there since she was born was lifted up. For one single second everything was light, her heart was screaming in pain, but everything was so, very light.

Then their blushed faces parted.

"Rod, I'm so sorry", Bellatrix winced as the realization and guilt flew through her. She teared herself away from Rodolphus' embrace, stood up, and started quickly walking away.

"Bella!" Rodolphus shouted at her back in utter confuse.

"Bella I thought that you.. you liked me! I mean that you had a crush on me!" his handsome, usually so manly face was school-boyish and redden.

"And I still do!" Bellatrix turned quickly around. "And that is exactly the problem, Rod!"

She started walking again towards the main doors even more quickly with her hands pressed on her chest.

"And what's the logic behind that, may I ask!" Rodolphus shouted, but he didn't try to catch her. "Women.." he murmured and wiped the ruins of the kiss from the corner of his mouth.

* * *

London's summer was unusually hot and dry. Bellatrix didn't see a single grey cloud that could have threatened the utter warmth.

"I can't understand how muggles survive without cooling spells", Andromeda said. She twiddled her new, custom made Twilfitt and Tattings' green charmed parasol. Bellatrix rolled her eyes and tried to resist the sudden temptation, but gave in.

"Why don't you ask that mudblood of yours?" she asked and gave a derisive laugh that she tried to hide her curiosity with.

Few days before they had left Hogwarts she had seen Andromeda and some Hufflepuff mudblood, she believed his name was Tonks, snogging near the first floor girls' bathroom. She had waited for a moment alone with Andromeda to reveal that she knew her shocking secret, but for Bellatrix's surprise she burst out laughing.

"Tonks? Edward Tonks? You saw that? Oh my", Andromeda laughed so hard she had to put her lace-covered hand in front of her mouth. Bellatrix scowled. Andromeda took deep breaths.

"I had a bet with the Abbot boy about the Holey Head Harpies versus Banchory Bangers game (he's from Scotland) and I lost!" Andromeda rushed to explain. Bellatrix still didn't understand.

They turned to the left through the gates of an old two story Victorian house. There were bunch of colourful flowers in straight lines and a small fake pond.

"The mudblood apparently has a crush on me and my punishment was to go and snog him. You know the Abbots, they have a twisted sense of humour. Besides he was a terrible kisser!" Andromeda huffed and Bellatrix smiled a little. That sounded pretty reasonable for a person like Andromeda.

She knew her sister, foolhardy little Andromeda. Where Bellatrix tried to make sure that no one she loved would have to suffer, Andromeda ran around with no worries and let her dear father fix the mistakes after her.

Once her fellow fifth years had dared her to pull down some muggle boy's pants, but she had decided to do it with magic and to humiliate the boy even more, she had put a boil hex on his face.

Cygnus had solved the situation in the Ministry of Magic with money and laughed to the pathetic muggle with her. Bellatrix didn't even dared to think what would have something like that cost to her, his father least favourite of the three.

"Bella! Meda!" Narcissa ran from the backyard behind a thick hedgerow. She was laughing, as always. She had untied her straight blonde hair, and she didn't have shoes in her feet although she was wearing her light blue party dress. She was thirteen but she looked like a tall small child.

Behind the girl ran a boy, who had a dark brown hair and kind green eyes, just like his bigger brother.

"Rabastan Lestrange!" Bellatrix gasped and thought frantically were they ever informed about any guests. She glanced at Andromeda who looked just as confused as she probably was.

"Miss Black", Rabastan bowed a little. Bellatrix was an adult now, and although her sisters hadn't changed their behaviour, seemed the fourteen-year-old followed the etiquette. She smiled a little.

"Cissy, what's going on? Do we have any more quests?" Andromeda asked.

"Do we have more?" Narcissa giggled. "The house of Lestrange is here, even their grandfather as well as our grand-peré and grandfather Rosier! The adults are drinking tea in the garden." she reported and signed towards the direction the two had just ran from. She had probably expected something else but all she got were Andromeda's indignant and Bellatrix's shocked faces.

"What! But we aren't even wearing our party dresses!" Andromeda raised her voice nervously.

But Bellatrix's stomach felt cold and she couldn't think less about such redundancies as party dresses.

Narcissa's joyful smile froze. "I'll go say that you just came and you're just going to freshen up a bit.. Oh!" Narcissa had noticed Andromeda's brand new parasol. "Could I have one too? Daddy said that.."

"Could you please ask 'daddy' to come upstairs?" Bellatrix interrupted.

"Of course, miss Bell.." Narcissa said imitating the voice of Ruma the house elf and turned around. "Come, Stan."

Bellatrix pulled Andromeda with her inside. "Why are you in such a hurry?" Andromeda asked as they walked up the huge marble stairs to the second floor.

"Don't you understand? The house of Lestrange, Rodolphus, our house, I just turned seventeen!" Bellatrix huffed. At the same time the words reached her mind as well, and as she said it out loud it all sounded even more rational. Her voice cracked "They are going to marry me off, Rodolphus is going to propose me."

Andromeda's face dropped as soon as she realized what she'd just heard. "But you like Rodolphus, don't you?" she tried to comfort her, but without knowing it, made Bellatrix feel even worse. "It's not about that and I wish you, out of all, understand that, Meda."

* * *

Bellatrix sat at her dressing table and lined her lips with red. The door behind her opened, Cygnus marched in and shut the door behind him. He stood still as if he was waiting for Bellatrix to tell him the reason of his visit.

Bellatrix settled to eye Cygnus trough the mirror, his father, who she hadn't called her father as long as she could remember. The man was tall, well-proportioned and looked a bit older than his age. He was wearing a brown dinner robe decorated with gold and tied his long, dark brown curly hair. His grey eyes, identical to Bellatrix's, had unmoved look in them, as they stared at Bellatrix trough the mirror.

"How long have you been planning this, Cygnus?" Bellatrix asked quietly and tried to hide her anger. Her beautiful face trembled as if they wouldn't know what shape to take.

"Look in my eyes when you're talking to me, Bellatrix", his dad said and took a few steps forward. Bellatrix turned around but stared at the floor rather than faced his father's cold eyes.

_A door slammed on the ground floor; father had come home. Bellatrix breathed long, fearful and calm gasps. Her wand was in her mother's bureau, as well as the muggle's doll she had played with in the morning._

_She heard her mother explain and her father shouting. Her eyes tingled and she swallowed._

_"Focus", she whispered. She heard her father run upstairs. "Focus, you deserve this, you are a coward if you cry now."_

"How long have you been planning this, Cygnus?" Bellatrix repeated as calmly as she could. She was grown up now, but she knew that in his fathers eyes she was just another piece of property. She knew she had only one choice, accept whatever was planned for her. Something inside her still resisted, though, that something wanted to know why. If getting that answer meant confronting her father, be it.

"For a while." Cygnus answered. "You've probably tried every boy in your school and I'm under the impression that Rodolphus was your favourite, hmm, option."

"Me and him are just friends, Cygnus!" Bellatrix said and regretted immediately her own courage.

"Little girl, Rodolphus told me himself how you and him have done things only married couples should do. He wasn't the first boy who slept with you, wasn't he? I'm just trying to make a deal to save your non-existent dignity", Cygnus said, clearly enjoying every lie he spilled.

"Lies! You're lying, Cygnus!"

The pain came immediately and struck her nose. She tasted blood on her red lips and started screaming.

_The door slammed open. His father, blinded by pride and anger stood there for a moment measuring Bellatrix as she tried to hold her tears. Then he shut the door so quietly it didn't even squeak._

_"Bellatrix", he hissed. "What have I done to you? Why are you letting your mother go trough this? Don't you understand", first slap hit Bellatrix's cheek,"that I work every day" another, harder slap, "to eliminate things just like this?" Third slap hit Bellatrix in her eye so that she couldn't see anything for a moment._

_Bellatrix clenched her hands and tried to resist the urge to bury her hit face in them and fall in child's heartbroken cry._

Cygnus came at her, he threw her on the floor and kicked her everywhere he could reach.

"You worthless little slut!" he screamed. "Don't you have any respect for your parents, your house or your blood status?" He intensified every word he spoke with a new hit.

Then happened something that had never happened before: In the middle of Cygnus' treatment Bellatrix's door slammed open and Andromeda stormed in.

_"Mommy! Mommy!" Bellatrix screamed. The house was quiet. Her mother didn't come, as she had never before, to help her. Not in the middle of Cygnus' rage._

_Everything went blurry and eventually dark. Bellatrix's last thought tasted like blood._

"Stop it! Father, stop it! You're hurting her, stop it right now!" Bellatrix's little sister screamed. She looked like a grown woman, she had a fierce look in her face, that Bellatrix couldn't read nor had ever seen.

Cygnus stopped for a moment and turned to Andromeda. Bellatrix lied on the floor and stayed still, partly in the fear of new series of kicks and mostly because it would have been too painful.

"Meda, go to the garden with the others please. I'm taking care of this", Cygnus said and tried to sound kind.

"You're not taking care of anything anymore, father. Go away or I'll scream so loud everyone will hear!" Andromeda growled. Cygnus was going to say something to her, but gave in and walked away from Bellatrix. She sighed and lifted herself to a slightly better position.

As soon as Cygnus had walked out the door Andromeda ran to Bellatrix and hugged her as tight as she dared. Bellatrix cried for the first time in years and thanked her sister hoarsely.

"Don't worry, I'll take care of this. Episkey. Just say yes and leave with Rodolphus", Andromeda talked silently at the same time she listed different healing and covering spells.

"I don't love him. I don't want to marry her", Bellatrix murmured when Andromeda fixed her smudged make up with her wand.

"You love him more than you love father."

"What about Cissy?" Bellatrix sighed in distress. "I'll make sure he wont touch her, either of you." Andromeda said and stared at her eyes.

"Promise?"

"Promise."

"I'm scared."

"I know."


End file.
